EDITORIAL: Rahm's overpaid and undercompetant mercenaries from out of town... Decade of destabilization and 'outsider' rule in part to blame... Board of Education floundering in face of increased violence across Chicago

George N. Schmidt - February 01, 2013

The guys with the guns are the most to blame for the rapacious violence that has been increasing across about half of Chicago since the election of Mayor Rahm Emanuel following a flurry of carefully scripted media events two years ago. But the policies of the mayor's predecessor Richard M. Daley have been exacerbated by Emanuel's administration, and the result has been increased chaos in several of the agencies that should be bringing safety and stability to all communities in the city. Foremost among those policies are the mayor's insistence on bringing in high-priced outsiders to run key city agencies, and the destabilization of communities caused by school changes, library closings, mental health center closings, and the other programs that Emanuel's massive propaganda operation have tried to spin as good for the people of the city.

The latest "Chief Executive Officer" of Chicago Public Schools is Barbara Byrd Bennet (above, at her first meeting of the Chicago Board of Education as CEO in October 2012), who came to Chicago from Detroit after having helped destroy the remaining public schools in that city. Since Arne Duncan became U.S. Secretary of Education In January 2009, for years ago, Chicago has played musical chairs not only with the CEO but with most top executive positions. After Duncan left in 2009, Chicago got an ex-cop (Ron Huberman) as school CEO until October 2010. In January 2011, Chicago got charity executive Terry Mazany as "interim CEO"). In May 2011, Chicago got former Rochester New York Schools Supt. Jean Claude Brizard as Rahm Emanuel's first CEO. Byrd Bennett replaced Brizard. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.Since Rahm Emanuel became mayor, three of the agencies that have the greatest impact on the safety and security of our communities have been turned over to outsiders with no knowledge of Chicago, Chicago history, or the needs of our communities. First, Emanuel selected a guy from Rochester New York (with Broad Foundation clout) to be the "Chief Executive Officer" of the third largest school system in the USA. Most people are forgetting the guy's name. Wasn't there anyone in Chicago -- or Illinois -- qualified and ready to do the job, we asked. Emanuel's answer, typical of him, was, basically, F____ off! And when Brizard crashed and burned after a year of humiliating public appearances on a short leash standing tall beside our mayor, the golden parachute was there waiting.

And Brizard went to the Broad Foundation and Detroit for the next outsider to head the school system. Barbara Byrd Bennett, like Brizard, repeats her lines carefully, declaring her love of Chicago, our children, and, of course, honesty and all that truthy stuff. Then she goes around announcing, as part of her quarter million dollar a year gig, that CPS is facing a "billion dollar deficit" and an "underutilization crisis." If Chicago were in the middle of a presidential campaign, the Truth Squad would have snuffed out those two phrases months ago, but so far only Substance, some of the city's parent groups, and the Chicago Teachers Union have been exposing the lies Byrd-Bennett is repeating over and over and over....

But CPS isn't the only city agency that's being subjected to the Rahm Emanuel school of humiliation and trashing. For reasons the mayor never was forced to explain, the best guy to head the Chicago Police Department came to town from 800 miles away, Gerry McCarthy, who had most recently served as chief of police in Newark, New Jersey.

Neither "Chief Administrative Officer" Tim Cawley (above left) or "Chief Talent Officer" (formerly "Chief Human Capital Officer," which before that was called "Chief of Human Resources") Alicia Winckler has any Chicago teaching experience. Cawley's expertise came during his years as an executive at Motorola (followed by a stint at AUSL), while Winckler was with Sears Holdings before going into a career in education. Above, the two narrated one of the many dog and pony show Power Points at the October 2012 Board of Education meeting. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.And after Rahm forced out Mary Dempsey as head of the Chicago Public Libraries, so he could gut the programs there by ruthlessly cutting back hours, some guy from California turned out to be the best for that job -- according to our mayor.

The pattern is clear. Rahm Emanuel is going to make sure that the destabilization of our communities and the gutting of public services (along with the attack on the unions of public workers) is carried out by overpaid and undercompetent mercenaries from out of town.

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